a blog by Lauren Cunningham

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Market Mornings.

I am a firm believer that travel is 100% more enjoyable when you get to experience your destination as the locals do.

While living in Florence, Italy a couple of years ago, I didn’t spend my weekends in the Piazzas swarming with tourists and rambunctious umbrella salesmen. No, I spent my weekends cruising in backseat of my friend Mattia’s navy blue mini cooper. From camping trips in the country side, to nights out in Fiesole, to taking a special trip to a nearly invisible restaurant in a tiny town solely because I must try the gnocchi–it’s safe to say that a few simple google searches would not have yielded such memorable adventures. While I did take time to see and appreciate the sites of beautiful Firenze, I did it through the eyes of the people who truly knew the history and value of them because they’ve been surrounded by the culture their whole lives.

This past weekend, we went to London and stayed with my friend’s stepsister in Borough. We were banking on her showing us around so we could see a different side of London than we were expecting, and she did not let us down.

On Saturdays, there is a market filled to the brim with every tasty thing you could imagine: macarons, fresh meats, ice cream, home grown produce, curry cooked right in front of you, sweets for DAYS, and (my personal favorite) chai tea straight from Darjeeling. I was in heaven, and most of that can probably be attributed to the amount of free cheese samples I consumed throughout our time there. Just kidding. (But really, what’s better than fresh Comté? Nothing is the answer).

Markets are a great way to get a feel for a place and it’s people, but also to support it’s local industries. If you’re ever in London, I highly recommend checking it out. Take the tube, grab a mulled wine, and see what all the buzz is about.

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To keep up in real time with my travels follow me on Instagram at @lacunningham

Up next on the blog: Winter Wonderland–the land of amusement park rides, cider, christmas lights, and a lot of spiced sausage.